INTERVIEW DANIELA
Daniela is my younger sister and I was able to interview her about camp over a Video chat conference one afternoon. Daniela started going to camp when I was at camp for my second summer. My parents thought that 7 weeks was too long to send her away at first, so they settled and decided on allowing her to go to camp for the second session.
At my camp, second session starts the weekend after visiting day, about 4 weeks into the summer. I remember Daniela coming up for visiting day that year with my family and couldn’t wait to actually start going to camp the following week. The way she walked around exploring everything you could tell how excited she was. Being the baby of the family, my parents were definitely hesitant and sad to watch her leave them. I was so excited when she actually got to camp the following weekend. Everyone goes to the center of camp with signs welcoming the new or returning campers for the second half of the summer. She was definitely a little nervous walking off the bus, but I knew she would be okay. I asked Daniela what her first night at camp was like. She told me, “it was definitely nice having you there but it was also scary to be in a new place. I was really homesick and cried in my bed the first night. When people asked me if I was crying I lied and said I had allergies.” Daniela is returning this summer as a junior counselor. She has been going to camp every summer since she started. She went last year as a LIT and loved it. When I asked her how she felt about being a counselor instead of a camper this year she said “I think it’s going to be weird at first because I’m not living with my friends and I actually have to do work taking care of kids. I’m excited but nervous to see the other side of camp. I do think I’m going to love it and so many of my friends are going back that it can’t not be fun.” |
We ended up video chatting for two hours just talking about camp. We both agreed that color war and the California trip were our two favorite parts of camp. Color war at Taconic is actually called Taconic Games. It is at the end of the summer for 4 days. When I first started going to camp, color war breakout wasn’t really a thing but as the summers continued they started getting crazier and more intense. One summer when we were both at camp they had a helicopter at camp with all the team captains on board. They landed the helicopter on the main soccer field and everyone went crazy. The team countries were announced and papers were flying around with the team rosters. Taconic Games is great. There are always four teams- white, red, green and blue. Each team also has a country. Daniela and I have been on the same team some years but separate for others. We decided that it was definitely more fun to be on the same team because then we could come home and annoy the family with all of our cheers. Our favorite team was 2007, Blue Israel.
The trip to California is anticipated from day 1 of whatever summer you start going to camp. It is a weeklong trip to San Francisco then Los Angeles for the teen’s division. It’s a week that really pulls the age group together. Every second of the trip was carefully planned to make sure we had the best time. We did a lot of sight seeing, such as walking the Golden Gate Bridge or touring Alcatraz, but also had so much fun going to the Santa Monica pier for a beach day. Overall it’s an amazing trip. Even though I am not going to camp this summer, I know that I will definitely be making multiple trips up to the Berkshires to visit my sister. As much as camp is a part of my life, it is also a huge part of hers. No matter how old we get we know that Camp Taconic will always be our second home to return to. |
This is a picture of Daniela and me before the David Grover concert at the end of each summer. This photo is from when I was an LIT and Daniela was in the 14s age group. David Grover is this guy that comes at the end of every summer for a concert behind the playhouse, outside, overlooking Lake Ashmere. It is always so fun and anticipated by everyone from day 1 of camp.
This is a picture of my sister and me on her first day of her Teens summer. This was my first summer not going back to camp, so also her first summer without me there. This was taken in the Bloomingdales parking lot in Westchester. It was very sad having to watch the buses leaving knowing I wasn't going to camp that summer.
This is a picture of my sister with her bunk from her teens summer. They all had tshirts that said "The world isn't ending, we're just taking over." Every summer the oldest age group designs some kind of apparel to have.